Claire Boyles: The sky is not falling

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On Tuesday, my kids came home from school with mixed emotions about the results of the school election that was held to help them learn about their civic duty.

They had the choice of voting for Mr. Respect or Mr. Fairness, students who had put together platforms, performed debates at assemblies and run fairly sophisticated campaigns.

Mr. Respect, my son's choice, had promised soccer goals for the playground. I'm sure he promised other things, too, but my boy is a single issue voter.

Mr. Fairness wanted a school garden, and my daughter, who knows about such things, was into that.

Mr. Fairness won the election, and my son came home not just disappointed but worried. He was convinced that he had not only lost the chance at soccer goals but that his new school president was going to plant that school garden in the middle of the existing soccer field and ruin my boy's favorite thing about school.

I'm not making this up.

Wednesday morning, I got on Facebook to find a very similar conversation happening among adults.

I get it. I really do. I admire passion and conviction. That is what I told my boy that his passion and conviction about issues near and dear to his heart are admirable and essential to democracy. That it was OK to be disappointed that the majority didn't think soccer goals were quite as important as he did.

Democracy sometimes does mean having to go along with a majority that disagrees with you. But there's no reason, I told my boy, to imagine a miserable future in which someone plants tomatoes in the middle of your soccer field. The sky is not falling.

Elections are an important piece of democracy, but they are just one piece. I reassured my boy that because he is lucky enough to live free in our great nation, he can still work for those soccer goals even though his candidate lost the election. He can write letters to the principal or the governor or even President Obama asking for soccer goals. He can organize petitions. Make posters. Stand next to the swing set and give a speech demanding action about this soccer goal thing. He can (heaven forbid) start a robocall campaign.

In some countries, I told my shocked and horrified kids, people don't have those freedoms. In some countries, if you disagree with your leaders, you could be put in prison (or worse). In some countries, elections mean war.

Being an American means you have the freedom to express dissent no matter who your leaders are. We as a nation are united by our belief in that freedom, even if we disagree on other issues. It's amazing, and it's historically and geopolitically rare. For most of us, patriotism is more important than politics. It's why we all, blue or red, touch our hearts when we say the pledge of allegiance.

Please, I told my kids, don't ever take this freedom for granted. Don't give up on your country, or your beliefs, or your school playground, based on the results of one election. As a citizen of these great United States, you have a responsibility not to.

Claire Boyles is married with two children. Read her Thursdays on Greeley Moms.